Madame de Treymes

gely flung at him: of his talk with her sister-in-law he g

lling whatever illusive hopes had attended him to the threshold. Even after the governess's descent upon the scene had left Madame de Malrive and her visitor alone

thing so misleading as their plainness? And might it not be that, in spite of his advisedness, he had suffered too easy a rebuff? But second thoughts reminded him that the refusal had not been as unconditional as his necessary reservations made it seem in the repetition; and that, furthermore, it was his own act, and not that o

aware of the struggle under her composure, he felt no temptation to abate his stand by a jot. He had not yet formulated a reason for his resistance: he simply went on feeling, more and m

hen she exclaimed, in answer to his announcement that he meant to leave Paris the next night: "Oh, give me a day

as there-just for a day or two, till she had readjusted herself to the ide

ays, more than even his passion required of him; and on the third he despatched a note of goodbye to his friend. He was going off for a few weeks, he explained-h

t immediately, his own messenger returned with a reply from her, he even felt a pang of disappointment, a momentary fear lest she should h

go: something extraordina

raordinary than a visit from Madame de Treymes, who had come, officially delegated by the family, to announce that Monsieur de Malrive had decided not to oppose his wife's suit for di

th always in what they don't say. It took me hours and hours to convince mys

ham; but the shadow of his question lingered n

my lawyer whenever I wish it. They quite understand that I never should have taken the step in face of any opposition on their part-I am so thankful to you for making that perfectly clear to them!-and I suppose this is t

a moment after, her whole self drawn to him in the first yielding of her lips, doubt perforce gave w

ul after-calm of their understanding, that he

is change of front?" he risked asking, when he fo

. And when she found that yours was staring at her in the actual words you said: that you really respected my scruples, and would never, never try to coerce or entrap me-something in her-poor

Malrive, whom he had once inwardly taxed with the morbid raising of obstacles, seemed to see none now; and he could only infer that her sister-in-law's actual words had carried more conviction than reached him in the repetition of them. The mere fact that h